In what could be a new record for the Morning Joe crew, Joe Scarborough exploded into an anti-media rant today – a mere six minutes and forty-one seconds into the show. From review of the tape, it is clear that Scarborough had not missed his morning coffee – so that was apparently not the reason for his detonation. What, then, set Scarborough off?
This Scarborough eruption was brought to you by the past (and continuing) failure of the main-stream media to cover President Obama fairly. In Mika Brzezinski’s morning news rundown, there was (what was supposed to be) a short segment on President Obama’s comments yesterday; regarding the latest in a series of auto-maker bailouts:
JOE SCARBOROUGH: How can he say that with a straight face? Seriously. This is one of the things that's troubling about this President is he can say things with a straight face that the media does not call him on.After arguing the details of the President’s proposal at length (length for a TV show...), Brzezinski provided this gem:
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BRZEZINSKI: Okay. I will just finish this off by saying people who had experience drove us into the ground.Scarborough, who had kept himself generally calm to this point, lost his cool completely.
SCARBOROUGH: No, no, no, no I cannot let, Chris, I can't let Mika get away with repeating the same thing. So you're saying. Just turn off the drum music, everything is killed. News is killed. Just stop it. So Mika, you just repeated the same thing!After making a particularly entertaining analogy about choosing a lumberjack to perform spinal surgery (see the video above and to the right), Scarborough brought himself back on message:
SCARBOROUGH: The amazing thing is, Mika, if – and this is the failure of the mainstream media.Scarborough’s incredulity at the lack of media coverage is, to put it lightly, not entirely misplaced. As NewsBusters regularly documents, President Obama is breezing through the media gauntlet like James Bond - irrationally and inconceivably smoothly, and with never so much as a hair out of place.
BRZEZINSKI: What did I say?
SCARBOROUGH: If the mainstream media had covered Barack Obama instead of applauding him during the campaign, you would know off the top of your head that nobody got more money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives than Barack Obama. Nobody ran resistance –
BRZEZINSKI: I don't think there's anybody who –
SCARBOROUGH: – for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, more than Barack Obama. There is nothing that Barack Obama did. Nothing while he was in the United States Senate to stop this. Nothing whatsoever. And he's running it all. This is the man who's running our government. Who is – and that's fine. People voted on him to run the government. But did they vote on him to run car companies, to fire CEOs?
BRZEZINSKI: That's where we began this debate.
SCARBOROUGH: And if you say, if you say that people screwed up in the past, so let's just not have anybody with business experience running the biggest corporations in the world, if you say that, why are you allowing a guy that was in bed politically with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac even after they were indicted, making these decisions? Barack Obama was at ground zero of the sub-prime crisis from the day he got in, from the day Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac embraced him. There are going to be bloggers who kill me, oh how can you say that? You know what? Because nobody else is saying this or reporting it and we're supposed to trust him instead of somebody who's actually run a company with more than two people in it?
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Scarborough won't be there
June 2, 2009 - 15:43 ET by d1carterScarborough won't be there to much longer....
Howdy d1... I betcha' he
June 2, 2009 - 15:50 ET by bigtimerHowdy d1...
I betcha' he isn't going anywhere unless he decides to leave on his own accord...they have to have one token sometimes a republican spokesman....heck, how I see it, he fits their bill.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
MSM is an arm of the Democratic Party
June 3, 2009 - 09:47 ET by pearlMSM is an arm of the Democratic Party. They are doing a great job. Poor Joe doesn't realize he's like the mob's front man.
Aw, poor Mika...
June 2, 2009 - 15:55 ET by BKeyser"What did I say?" (Don't take it out on me Joe, this is what I'm being paid to do here!)
Those of you...
June 2, 2009 - 16:08 ET by Mike Sargent...who don't really know me that well should know that I am a massive baseball fan. That's somewhat important, because I like to use baseball analogies.
For example...Mika's normal shade of liberality is kind of like a Tim Wakefield fastball. For those who might not know who Tim Wakefield is, a Tim Wakefield fastball can barely outpace my little sister's fastball...and it is consistently hammered for a home run.
That's the ONLY pitch he throws that anyone can hit - but unlike Mika, he knows it, and only throws it when he absolutely has to. When Mika talks about this stuff...it's almost always like a Wakefield fastball - slow, straight, and easy to hammer.
I almost feel bad. Almost.
→ Sargent
June 2, 2009 - 16:11 ET by Cool Arrowslow, straight, and easy to hammer.
We are talking about Mika's debating skills, aren't we?
I was just thinking back to my younger days . . .
"The only reason Clarence Thomas is on the court is because he's black". - Joe Biden
Her debates also cover the
June 2, 2009 - 17:48 ET by Lord ElicaniHer debates also cover the three main features of a Wakey breaking ball: slower, uglier and you never know where it'll land.
"And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears
fought are still at issue around the globe – the belief that the rights
of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of
God."
- John F. Kennedy
I'm not familiar with the
June 2, 2009 - 18:54 ET by JerI'm not familiar with the format of their radio show, but on Morning Joe, Mika's role is clearly not to be a debating opponent of Scarborough, which is a good thing because she isn't equipped to be one.
Jer
Not being a fan of Scarborough, this
June 2, 2009 - 16:09 ET by FastEdCOULD, and that is the operative word, could be the beginning of the facade cracking, the coverage of Barry becoming honest. (smacks head in disbelief at above statement)
Sorry, entered a parallel universe where there was an honest "press corps" - one that was sceptical, and not a cheer leader - thing is thou, will there be a change when state-run media is put off the train, and the rip-and-readers find out that their "editorials" are being written in the white house?? Hummm? (another slip to another universe - hate when that happens)
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V
Mike, you forgot one JB attribute
June 2, 2009 - 16:10 ET by mom_roxJoe can include himself in his tirade. I watched a few Morning Joe shows during the campaign, but never saw Joe discussing this type of information with his regular MSNBC/NBC guests: Todd, Mitchell, Matthews, etc.
~~save your tea, dump congress~~
Robert J. Samuelson had an
June 2, 2009 - 16:12 ET by mvfreemanRobert J. Samuelson had an excellent article about media complicity in how they cover the president...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/31/AR2009053102079.html
That's a great article and I
June 2, 2009 - 16:14 ET by balboaThat's a great article and I would love it if the press got over their little honeymoon. It doesn't have to be mean, it doesn't have to be inflammatory, just be objective.
I'm amazed that they haven't
June 2, 2009 - 16:19 ET by mattmI'm amazed that they haven't already started pretending to be objective. I guess they feel so confident in their credibility, now they they have the government they wanted, that they don't feel the need to even appear to be objective.
No, there's no objectivity
June 2, 2009 - 16:31 ET by PewahNo, there's no objectivity yet because they still only hear the voices of a few "radical right-wingers" bringing this stuff up and it doesn't yet justify any effort on their parts to break away from the lemming herd.
Bal
June 2, 2009 - 16:57 ET by mvfreemanAs Samuelson mentions they could at least show some measure of skepticism instead of making people believe that policies are going to work seemingly on intentions alone. They called Bush on it constantly but give O a free ride.
I suppose when you're the one holding the emperors new clothes you don't have much choice.
:)
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p14/mvfreeman/Emperor-4th-childpoints.gif
I wouldn't mind at all if
June 2, 2009 - 17:45 ET by balboaI wouldn't mind at all if the press got stingier, less likely to take whatever he says for granted.
Wait until we get hit with a
June 3, 2009 - 07:22 ET by Tom PaineWait until we get hit with a terrorist attack - which will happen
attack
June 3, 2009 - 08:29 ET by AgnosticWhile terrorist are ever required to act rationally but an attack during this administration is the stupidest thing that any terrorist organization could do. Read a bit on MEMRI and see how many are calling Obama their chance to be legitimate. They still hate us but they also know they have at least four years to grow, recruit, stabilize and arm themselves with little to no resistance in America. Plan now and attack later seems to be the underlying message. How long would the American voters keep voting for Republicans if they know they are opening themselves up to a direct attack? Would they instead be willing to watch the slow erosion of the US and the strengthening of organizations who would offer peace now in exchange for the heads of their grandchildren?
A person may be won over with logic and reason but the masses must be bought with spectacle and platitudes. - 2008 Elections
Bush had the cojones to
June 3, 2009 - 10:06 ET by Lord ElicaniBush had the cojones to fight back. We get a true conservative in the White House, let them attack - it'll be the last thing they ever do.
"And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears
fought are still at issue around the globe – the belief that the rights
of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of
God."
- John F. Kennedy
Joe, You better start updating your resume.
June 2, 2009 - 16:29 ET by IamTinmanJoe, You better start updating your resume. Being right will not keep you employed.
Beck saw the light, you may as well make the jump to FOX too.
Well, if we start trading
June 2, 2009 - 16:37 ET by PewahWell, if we start trading talking heads based upon their ideologies, maybe we can get rid of Shep Smith and Alexis Glick over at FNC. Between his liberal rantings about torture and her IDIOTIC, liberal stances vs. common sense business issues, I sometimes, to quote Mr. Beck, bleed from my eyes!
Isn’t it also interesting
June 3, 2009 - 07:20 ET by Tom PaineIsn’t it also interesting that the evil, conservative Fox treats them like normal commentators? They don’t have a conservative alongside of them to constantly provide “balance” and they don’t treat them like animal exhibits in a zoo like the other cable channels do with their token conservatives.
Shep Smith has done less
June 3, 2009 - 15:10 ET by JerShep Smith has done less political opining in all the years he has been on Fox than Scarborough does in one of his three-hour shows on MSNBC.
Does Larry Kudlow have a liberal sitting beside him on CNBC?
Jer
→ Jer
June 3, 2009 - 15:16 ET by Cool ArrowI like Shep too. He's a Liberal, but I can't think of anybody I'd swap him out for.
"The only reason Clarence Thomas is on the court is because he's black". - Joe Biden
Cool...
June 3, 2009 - 15:24 ET by JerI've been for the most part in a non-Fox phase recently after several years of watching it more than any of the other cable news networks. It always seemed to me that Shep played it pretty much straight down the middle. However, I am aware of his recent 'torture tirade' which understandably raised the hackles of a good many Fox Fans.
Jer
→ Yeah, Jer
June 3, 2009 - 15:30 ET by Cool ArrowI'm a dyed-in-the-wool Fox fan, and I appreciated the fact that Shep's tirade occurred in the presence of people who disagreed.
BTW, That penny stock picked up another 12% today.
"The only reason Clarence Thomas is on the court is because he's black". - Joe Biden
Jer/Cool...
June 3, 2009 - 15:46 ET by Georgia GirlWow, I must be a real toughie. I do generally like Shep, but there is one thing he does that rather surprises/aggravates me. I know it's my journalism background, so forgive me that -- but it was drilled into us that your audience should never be able to tell how you personally feel when you're delivering (through broadcast or print) a straight news story. There are times when Shep is in the middle of delivering the news & he'll quip out his own personal opinion or sarcastic comment under his breath in the middle of it -- or as he transitions to the next piece. That bugs me. Just give me the news, dude! It's totally a different matter when he's chit-chatting in-between the news segements or is doing an opinion piece, but I find his commentary during hard news pretty unprofessional.
→ You're right GG
June 3, 2009 - 15:59 ET by Cool ArrowThe purist would definitely rank his style as inappropriate.
My pet peeve is when reporters (and posters) use "could care less", "irregardless" and "hopefully".
It doesn't mean they're stupid. Just careless.
"The only reason Clarence Thomas is on the court is because he's black". - Joe Biden
Georgia Girl... There
June 3, 2009 - 16:38 ET by JerGeorgia Girl...
There were a number of shows on Fox of which I was a fairly regular viewer, but I only occasionally caught Shep's "news"casts and certainly didn't rely upon him for my daily dose of "straight" news. [Of course the mission of this website is to point out that any reliance on the MSM for straight news is misguided.]
In any event, my earlier point was simply noting that, in my opinion [based upon my limited viewing experience], Shep didn't display any obvious ideological bias. Even his off-the-cuff quips, professional or not, were--from a political perspective--generally nondirectional or equally distributed.
Jer
Jer/Cool...
June 3, 2009 - 20:01 ET by Georgia GirlI hear ya -- some good points, guys.
Oh, and just for you, Cool Arrow: Hopefully FOXNEWS will be on for a long time. Irregardless, I could care less if 90% of the other "news" shows close up shop because they're so biased that it's ridiculous.
Sorry. I couldn't resist. ;) And yes, it hurt to type that. (*_*)
→ GG
June 3, 2009 - 20:04 ET by Cool ArrowStep away from the chalkboard with those fingernails, please.
"The Rule of Law is the only thing that separates us from Democrats" - a Firefighter
Scarborough.. Obama's well aware of the players in the crisis
June 2, 2009 - 16:32 ET by Gary HallExactly, Joe Scarborough.. Obama's well aware of the players in the crisis.
On more than one occassion, Obama let on that he fully understood how HUD led Fannie/Freddie .. and down the line.. all into this housing bubble and subsequent crisis.
Brian Williams became very uncomfortable as it became apparent that Obama (as Clinton has done as well) was pointing fingers at the Democratic side of the isle, and at an agenda which he has devoted his life to (ACORN, etc)
There's a long history to this crisis; a lot of the excess greed - debt - that we were left with as a result of the dot.com bubble crash would get pushed forward, as the federal government acted in Oct of 2001 to create the foundation for an historic shift in housing supply and demand economics, which greatly aided the meteoric rise in real estate prices:
Oct 31, 2000 - HUD ANNOUNCES NEW REGULATIONS TO PROVIDE $2.4 TRILLION IN MORTGAGES FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR 28.1 MILLION FAMILIES –
$2.4 Trillion?? Now, that is some stimulus - and look at where it got us.
(;~> gary
Wow...great dig-up on that
June 2, 2009 - 16:43 ET by PewahWow...great dig-up on that old article. And that $2.4 trillion number...very poignant vs. what the great one keeps saying we need to spend.
It's so sad that all these journalists are just letting opportunities like this one to hammer at a president and administration pass them by because it truly never occurs to them that anything is amiss.
So is Joe's new show on Fox
June 2, 2009 - 16:40 ET by SnappySo is Joe's new show on Fox going to premier in the fall then?
He'd never do it...
June 3, 2009 - 08:43 ET by Mike Sargent...but can you imagine that all-star lineup?
Scarborough in the morning, come home from work to watch Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, et al...I like the current Fox morning crew, don't get me wrong. But Scarborough, despite his occasional left-leaning, is flat-out entertaining.
He'd do well on Fox - but he'd never make the move.
Over the past 40 years the media has been suborned
June 2, 2009 - 16:46 ET by c5thenThey are no longer informers, they are propagandists and pundits for one side of the political debate. The vast majority of the media do not report on the issues, they try and sway public opinion to one side of the issues. The newspapers are a prime example of this and the easiest to do without. With the Internet available, a daily newspaper is not essential anymore, so as they have become more cheerleaders and less investigators people have stopped buying them. As the big three network news broadcasts have become more partisans and less journalists, people have stopped watching them.
Now this Marxist administration has appointed a "Cyber Czar" to "protect" the nation's electronic infrastructure. Or is it about controlling the internet to get rid of the last place that all opinions and views can be easily found?
Hey, I got the wrong "CHANGE"!
www.loyaltoliberty.com
Except that
June 2, 2009 - 17:48 ET by danebramageThere is no political debate in this country, c5. That's the only thing you said that I'd disagree with. We on the right are not allowed to debate. If we ever were, the leftist project would be over...and the enemy knows that, or at least fears it.
Joe
June 2, 2009 - 16:47 ET by ForbusLook for Scarborough to be "Imus-ed" at any time.
From the Henry Waxman School of Journalism ...
June 2, 2009 - 17:18 ET by metaphorsbwithu"You're asking me?"
When all of this history is finally written objectively, no one will believe it.
There will be entire currilculums devoted to what could possibly have happened to rational behavior in the first decade of the the third millenium.
metaphorsbwithu
Guilt trip. If I'd heard
June 2, 2009 - 18:42 ET by RR GOPGuilt trip.
If I'd heard that Joe was challenging BHO on the issues or getting on the fawning of the MSM during the elections, I would have watched him.
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 61% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory (yep...approval for Congress now at 39%...do you believe that!?).
I've been watching
June 2, 2009 - 18:48 ET by JerI've been watching Scarborough fairly regularly since the first of the year, and he has praised Obama in some areas, but has been highly critical in others.
Jer
Too Little too Late
June 2, 2009 - 19:20 ET by AMR1960Sorry Joe Scarborough your speech is too little too late. You gave 'DearLeader' a pass just by your slience when you were worried about your MSNBC masters...
___________________________
Long Live...THE REPUBLIC !
Some things I expect from NBer's
June 3, 2009 - 09:29 ET by ahusserlately. When we finally start getting some commentators to actually put forth some sense and reason in the media with some objective reporting (and yes not all pass every litmus test and stumbling blocks provided by "true" conservatives and yes some are late to the party). They get trashed. Personally I will take whatever I can get warts and all. A partial list of those trashed: Morning Joe, BOR, Newt Gingrich, Lou Dobbs. We don't have many spokespersons who are on our side or align themselves with conservatives in some respects so maybe we should be a little more tolerant, supportive and thankful that the word gets out at all from this side.
"Somehow, I told you so, just doesn't quite say it." Will Smith in 'I, Robot.'
I agree
June 3, 2009 - 09:49 ET by general companyWhile I think we should still critique our own, I thank goodness for every single one of them.
My Gov. thinks I am dangerous, so be careful
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
Actually...
June 3, 2009 - 09:45 ET by Mike Sargent...Joe did a decent job of asking questions during the campaign - for a morning character. Seriously, he did okay for a caffiene-fueled, somewhat nutty morning-show-host.
Anyone who could take
June 3, 2009 - 15:26 ET by SickofLibsAnyone who could take sitting next to that non-stop mockingbird Mika day after day has earned his battle stars in my book.
There needs to be a trade
June 2, 2009 - 20:34 ET by TjexciteFootball like trade.
Joe to FNC for Shepard Smith, and a player to be named later.
All Conservatives to Fox, All leftist to MSNBC and All confused liberals who don't realize they are liberal to CNN.
Actually other news media
June 2, 2009 - 21:21 ET by Radical1979Actually other news media have covered this issue, Fox of course. Glen Beck has been talking about the lack of experience of the guy Obama has running the auto show.
No longer the MSM
June 2, 2009 - 22:11 ET by Kingfish17I have to say that I agree with posters on this venue and other internet sites who point out that the MSM has become a propaganda arm of our current government. It hasn't just lost it's objectivity, it is coordinating propaganda on a scale that would make Joseph Goebels at once blush, and be envious.
I just got done watching Earth 2100 on ABC. This was put together by their "News" division. It featured the likes of Thomas Friedman and John Podesta and all sorts of other far left types, peddling their expert opinion on what we all need to do to save the world. This propaganda piece spent and hour telling everyone that by 2100 the world is basically going to be destroyed if we don't start the fight against climate change tomorrow.
This had to be coordinated between economic interests tied into "green jobs" and "green energy" and the Democrat Party. It's the same old Doomsday crap that has been peddled throughout history. I was fed my share of it in High School and College, but it's never been this massive in scale and it's never had the backing of a major part of our industrial complex and the government.
"I've sentenced boys younger then you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it, but I felt I owed it to them." Judge Smails
King, were there any A-bombs, in that joke of a show?
June 2, 2009 - 22:27 ET by upcountrywaterAtomic fission a 64 year old technology.
Infrastructure is so easly broken, never to be fixed again.
Say
The best way those green goons can save the planet is to, runout to the street and shut off their water supply at the meter.. All the pumping and filtration to get the drinking water to their door, then all the additional filtration needed after they poop in the drinking water, to pump it away and re-filter it.
The electrical power saved will equal a solar panel the size of a foot ball field.
Reagan VS Carter and 0bama
media gauntlet
June 3, 2009 - 03:02 ET by bknownstThere is no "media gaunlet"!
The media is THE PROPAGANDA ARM of the DEMOCOMMUNIST PARTY.
END OF STORY
There are...
June 3, 2009 - 08:57 ET by Mike Sargent...brief flashes of brilliance. Nothing like what Tony Snow or Ari Fleischer went through, but Gibbsie occasionally has to answer a tough question.
They generally come from Major Garrett or Jake Tapper. Other than that, there's always the fact that Helen Thomas is on the front row...
grade school antics
June 3, 2009 - 06:09 ET by pappyinpapewah: i also have noticed that smith uses that term ad nauseum, "the U.S. does not torture", and he has it about worn out. as for click, hers seems like an exercise in proper pie hole placement and word pronunciation. harken back, "the rain in spain falls mainly on the plain".